Chef Jamie Smith, senior manager of food services and nutrition in
Santa Cruz, CA, introduced Meatless Monday to Santa Cruz schools and
seeks to reduce meat consumption in student diets for several reasons,
including health, the state of the environment, food safety and ethics.
Students seem to enjoy the new meals that include the familiar tacos and
hamburgers, but also new items such as curries and samosas.

To learn
more please visit More and more people embrace Meatless Mondays:http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_18993074

It's fantastic that Santa Cruz schools are setting the example by
adopting Meatless Mondays! Hopefully many more schools will follow and
reduce the animal products served in their cafeterias. Students should
be exposed as much as possible to the consequences of their food choices
on their health, the environment and God's animals.

Hopefully, for humanity’s sake, the direction world history will
take is away from raising birds by the billions under intensive
confinement. Tragically, it may take a pandemic with a virus like H5N1
before the world realizes the true cost of cheap chicken.

Myplate, the federal food diagram, illustrates what a healthful diet
should look like by featuring half of the plate containing fruits and
vegetables, about a third with grains, a fifth reserved for protein, and
a separate, smaller circle designated for “dairy.” Ironically however,
the federal government goes against their very own suggestions of food
choices intended to curb increasing rates of obesity and chronic
diseases, by subsidizing farmers who grow food for animals that become
meat, leading to the wide availability of very cheap animal products
that become the bulk of the diet of most Americans. To read the article
please visit U.S. touts fruit and vegetables while subsidizing animals
that become meat:http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-touts-fruit-and-vegetables-while-subsidizing-animals-that-become-meat/2011/08/22/gIQATFG5IL_story.html

It is a shame that our government contributes so greatly to the ever
increasing rates of chronic diseases that bring so much suffering to
people. Fortunately, each of us can and should take control of our own
health by paying attention to scientific evidence in regards to what is
healthy food. Also, our faith and beliefs clearly show that
compassionate choices lead to healthful choices.

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love
endures for ever!

This Thanksgiving let’s focus on what is important: God’s essence in
each of us that enables us to reflect His/Her love onto all creatures
alike, trying our best to bring healing and reconciliation to Creation.

Salmonellosis, an infection that causes diarrhea, fever and stomach
cramps, sickens an estimated 1 million people annually, and is the most
commonly reported foodborne illness. Poultry is commonly infected with
Salmonella but few people realize the severity of the problem. This
article looks in detail at how the nation’s food safety system operates
in the case of salmonella-infected poultry and how unsafe food
production of animal products is in the US. Please visit Salmonella
stays with chickens, from birth to kitchens:http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/salmonella-stays-with-chickens-from-birth-to-kitchen/2011/09/08/gIQA2EagDL_story.html

It’s not surprising that God’s farmed animals are infected with
pathogens due to the unsanitary confinement to which they are subjected.
The lack of ethics of agribusiness coupled with the lack of ethics of
the government --which grants massive subsidies to the animal
agriculture industry—puts the health of people at risk. This is one more
reason as to why it’s imperative that each of us, stewards of our
bodies, takes personal responsibility and makes mindful, ethical and
compassionate choices regarding our choice of diet, taking into account
how it affects God’s animals and the environment as well.